Failed States Status in Contemporary International Law

Since the end of the cold war, the International Community has become increasingly preoccupied with a phenomenon giving rise to a wide range of humanitarian, legal and security strains generally known as ‘State failure’. Recent examples of it are the situation of state institutions in Somalia, the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, the crises in Rwanda, Haiti, Liberia, Congo, Sierra Leone and finally Afghanistan. While some argue that the challenges ahead of the process of reconstructing the weak failed States, in a liberal democratic fashion, is rather cultural than a mere technical issue, the main question with regards to its broad definition remains as to how under International law may we recognize a state as weak or “Failed State”. In this article, after reviewing certain features of a state failure, we will chronologically analyze the different aspect of the failed states in both doctrinal views and states practice in contemporary international law.